First US ambassador visits Tawang and China frowns

It is bad enough for China that anyone from India at all visits Tawang, a contested stretch of the border region with India in the latter’s northeast. It is hardly surprising then that when the visitor happens to be the U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma. What adds to the optics is that Verma is of Indian origin, his parents having been born in India.

It is for the first time that a U.S. Ambassador visited Tawang, which is part of the 90,000 sq km territory that China claims and calls it South Tibet. Verma visited Tawang, described it as a “magical place” and posted pictures on Twitter on October 21. “Stunning mountains & wonderful people. Terrific visit to #ArunachalPradesh for the #TawangFestival. Thank you Tawang for the hospitality,” the ambassador tweeted much to Beijing’s chagrin.

The visit had the festive cover of the annual Tawang Festival where Verma was the guest of honor. But for China, it was an affront especially because it involved an important diplomat. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was quoted by Reuters as saying that Beijing was "firmly opposed" to the U.S. diplomat's actions. The spokesman went to the extent of saying that such actions would "damage the hard-earned peace and tranquility of the China-India border region".

"Any responsible third party should respect efforts by China and India to seek peaceful and stable reconciliation, and not the opposite," Lu said during a regular press briefing.

"We urge the United States to stop getting involved in the China-India territorial dispute and do more to benefit this region's peace and tranquility," he said. He also pointed out that China and India were handling the matter through talks.

The Indian response was crisp. “The US ambassador visited Arunachal Pradesh, a state which is an integral part of the country to which he is accredited. There is nothing unusual in it,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup.

Such visits are never impulsive and are preceded by considerable planning between the U.S. mission in New Delhi and the highest levels of the Indian government since they involve a region like Tawang. From the Indian side it is a deliberate move aimed at China which has recently thwarted some of New Delhi’s diplomatic moves, including membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and making terrorism a key part of the discourse among BRICS, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which had its summit recently in Goa.

Diplomacy has historically been about land along borders and which country has the rightful claim on it. As fraught moves go, the presence of a U.S. ambassador in a contested region like Tawang is a fairly effective one as evident in the Chinese reaction although I am not sure if it serves any long-term purpose. At the same time though not all diplomacy is about its long-term consequence. Sometimes it is just about asserting control through such occasional short-term moves.

Tawang happens to have a strong Tibetan connection because that was where Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706), was born. He is an unusual presence among the 14 Dalai Lamas in that he pursued sensual pleasures and led a life of wine, women and poetry. As I mention in my book ‘Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic” “Despite his indulgences the Sixth Dalai Lama remains a hugely popular figure in Tibetan history. Tibetans judge his frailties differently and argue that his decadence was deliberate, aimed at testing their faith and sincerity.”

It is bad enough for China that anyone from India at all visits Tawang, a contested stretch of the border region with India in the latter’s northeast. It is hardly surprising then that when the visitor happens to be the U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma. What adds to the optics is that Verma is of Indian origin, his parents having been born in India.

It is for the first time that a U.S. Ambassador visited Tawang, which is part of the 90,000 sq km territory that China claims and calls it South Tibet. Verma visited Tawang, described it as a “magical place” and posted pictures on Twitter on October 21. “Stunning mountains & wonderful people. Terrific visit to #ArunachalPradesh for the #TawangFestival. Thank you Tawang for the hospitality,” the ambassador tweeted much to Beijing’s chagrin.

The visit had the festive cover of the annual Tawang Festival where Verma was the guest of honor. But for China, it was an affront especially because it involved an important diplomat. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was quoted by Reuters as saying that Beijing was "firmly opposed" to the U.S. diplomat's actions. The spokesman went to the extent of saying that such actions would "damage the hard-earned peace and tranquility of the China-India border region".

"Any responsible third party should respect efforts by China and India to seek peaceful and stable reconciliation, and not the opposite," Lu said during a regular press briefing.

"We urge the United States to stop getting involved in the China-India territorial dispute and do more to benefit this region's peace and tranquility," he said. He also pointed out that China and India were handling the matter through talks.

The Indian response was crisp. “The US ambassador visited Arunachal Pradesh, a state which is an integral part of the country to which he is accredited. There is nothing unusual in it,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup.

Such visits are never impulsive and are preceded by considerable planning between the U.S. mission in New Delhi and the highest levels of the Indian government since they involve a region like Tawang. From the Indian side it is a deliberate move aimed at China which has recently thwarted some of New Delhi’s diplomatic moves, including membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and making terrorism a key part of the discourse among BRICS, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which had its summit recently in Goa.

Diplomacy has historically been about land along borders and which country has the rightful claim on it. As fraught moves go, the presence of a U.S. ambassador in a contested region like Tawang is a fairly effective one as evident in the Chinese reaction although I am not sure if it serves any long-term purpose. At the same time though not all diplomacy is about its long-term consequence. Sometimes it is just about asserting control through such occasional short-term moves.

Tawang happens to have a strong Tibetan connection because that was where Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706), was born. He is an unusual presence among the 14 Dalai Lamas in that he pursued sensual pleasures and led a life of wine, women and poetry. As I mention in my book ‘Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic” “Despite his indulgences the Sixth Dalai Lama remains a hugely popular figure in Tibetan history. Tibetans judge his frailties differently and argue that his decadence was deliberate, aimed at testing their faith and sincerity.”